Doomsday prep billionaires? Do they know something we don't?

[marylander1940]

OP note: he's not the only one! I'm sure with so much money around investing in land is a good idea for the future but building a bunker is too a step too far. 

How would you deal with a doomsday scenario? How much food do you have stored at home and will you be able to survive outdoor on your own? 

SURVIVALIST | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

DICTIONARY.CAMBRIDGE.ORG

---

1. someone who practises survivalism (= preparing for future emergencies by…

 

Mark Zuckerberg Spent $187 Million Secretly Buying 1,600 Acres of Hawaii Land, And Now He Is Reportedly Building A Massive Self-Sustaining Apocalypse Bunker

FINANCE.YAHOO.COM

---

Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly constructing an extensive compound in Kauai, Hawaii, featuring a unique blend of luxury and survivalist...

Edited June 14, 2024 by marylander1940

[+ FrankR]

2 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

OP note: he's not the only one! I'm sure with so much money around investing in land is a good idea for the future but building a bunker is too a step too far. 

How would you deal with a doomsday scenario? How much food do you have stored at home and will you be able to survive outdoor on your own? 

SURVIVALIST | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

DICTIONARY.CAMBRIDGE.ORG

---

1. someone who practises survivalism (= preparing for future emergencies by…

 

Mark Zuckerberg Spent $187 Million Secretly Buying 1,600 Acres of Hawaii Land, And Now He Is Reportedly Building A Massive Self-Sustaining Apocalypse Bunker

FINANCE.YAHOO.COM

---

Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly constructing an extensive compound in Kauai, Hawaii, featuring a unique blend of luxury and survivalist...

 

Does it include a Scrooge McDuck style vault? If not, I am not impressed! 😋

[marylander1940]

5 minutes ago, FrankR said:

Does it include a Scrooge McDuck style vault? If not, I am not impressed! 😋

In a doomsday scenario gold is only worth its value in food!

[+ FrankR]

3 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

In a doomsday scenario gold is only worth its value in food!

True. But if you are going to be ridiculous, I say go all the way!! 😆😆

[+ sync]

My perception is that immediate termination would be very much more preferable to the horrors of survival. 

[KeepItReal]

24 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

OP note: he's not the only one! I'm sure with so much money around investing in land is a good idea for the future but building a bunker is too a step too far. 

How would you deal with a doomsday scenario? How much food do you have stored at home and will you be able to survive outdoor on your own? 

SURVIVALIST | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

DICTIONARY.CAMBRIDGE.ORG

---

1. someone who practises survivalism (= preparing for future emergencies by…

 

Mark Zuckerberg Spent $187 Million Secretly Buying 1,600 Acres of Hawaii Land, And Now He Is Reportedly Building A Massive Self-Sustaining Apocalypse Bunker

FINANCE.YAHOO.COM

---

Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly constructing an extensive compound in Kauai, Hawaii, featuring a unique blend of luxury and survivalist...

Oh, the irony. A recent report cited that there is a 99% chance that we will lose control of AI and it will kill us all. So yeah, Mr Tech - glad you are planning ahead. 

https://futurism.com/the-byte/researcher-99-percent-chance-ai-destroy-humankind

 

I have enough canned food and bottled water to help me get through a few weeks (hurricane etc).  My long term outlook if society collapses is not good. 

[+ Pensant]

This is a sobering read from last month. I doubt much prep would be useful. Maybe remembering The Act of Contrition?

[EZEtoGRU]

2 hours ago, sync said:

My perception is that immediate termination would be very much more preferable to the horrors of survival. 

I agree with this. The best preparation is to have a plan and the means to end it all. Cyanide perhaps?  I don’t think I could pull a trigger.
 

  Trying to exist in survival mode doesn’t interest me at all. Really…what’s the point?

[+ DrownedBoy]

I read a whole book about this; here's a review of it:

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/douglas-rushkoff-survival-richest/

It will suffice to say that these billionaires might survive the apocalypse....for about a week or so before their guards kill them and take over the compound. And that such billionaires have very little idea of how the world - or normal people - operate.

[BSR]

While I didn't know about Zuck's elaborate preparations, I did know that rich techies were a significant demographic in the prepper community.  The logic behind it is that although the likelihood of a doomsday scenario is slim, if the sh*t does ever hit the fan, you'll be damn grateful that you made the investment.  Also, for rich techies the cost of prepping is quite small relative to their net worth.

However, if it were just a matter of a small investment relative to net worth, then rich people outside the tech sector would also be preppers, but that's not the case.  While there are probably exceptions, in general you don't see a lot of investment fund managers or Hollywood producers into prepping.

Maybe it's that a lot of tech geeks grow up playing, and still play, doomsday scenario video games, which foster a prepper mentality.  I couldn't come up with any other theory for why rich techies are into prepping whereas rich doctors, lawyers, bankers (for the most part) are not.

Edited June 28, 2024 by BSR
Wording

[+ DrownedBoy]

21 hours ago, BSR said:

Maybe it's that a lot of tech geeks grow up playing, and still play, doomsday scenario video games, which foster a prepper mentality.  I couldn't come up with any other theory for why rich techies are into prepping whereas rich doctors, lawyers, bankers (for the most part) are not.

In the book I read, the author called that the "mindset."

Part of it is that - that techies are so used to dealing with computers, that their approach to life is to simply try and "delete" or "block" a problem (or people) they find troublesome. Likewise, a lot of them approach their prepper compounds as they would a game of Sim City.

Likewise, they've read too much Rand and imbibed her half-assed idea that the elite could create some utopia and live apart from all those pesky non-billionaires.

But their main weakness is they are completely clueless about human nature and motivations. In the book, one literally thinks that if he forces his guards and soldiers to wear electric collars, and is the only one able to access the food vault, that they'd stay loyal....

Edited June 28, 2024 by DrownedBoy

[marylander1940]

You can also just build his own Island instead of buying land but I guess buying is cheaper

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-expands-300m-hawaii-193416044.html

[+ purplekow]

It is interesting that Zuckerberg is trying to have an area of isolation.  From some reports, if it weren't for sycophants and yesmen, he would not have very much in the way of an interpersonal social life.  

Edited July 27 by purplekow

[+ nycman]

10 hours ago, purplekow said:

It is interesting that Zuckerberg is trying to have an area of isolation.

I believe it. I sat next to him in a Michelin three star restaurant in New York once. I’ve never seen a more socially awkward human in my life. He was eating all alone. He barely said anything and never made eye contact with the staff who were trying to be polite and engage him. It wasn’t until Anna Wintour walked over and licked his ass that I was sure it was him.

[+ sync]

I'm thinking it would be a dark comedy to watch the big-money people emerging from their bunkers trying to adapt to doing manual labor or finding enough laborers to establish/maintain their pre-apocalyptic big-money lifestyles.

[TonyDown]

RuPaul and husband spend a lot of time on their 60000 acre ranch that includes a fortified underground bunker.  I tend to be disappointed RuPaul arrived at such a pessimistic worldview that such a bunker is needed.  I am not criticizing him.  I am just sorry that someone like RuPaul is no longer hopeful.  

They are not billionaires, but an example that preparing for post appocolyptic America is a personal investment decision people are making.  

Edited Sunday at 05:48 PM by TonyDown

[marylander1940]

On 6/27/2024 at 8:27 PM, BSR said:

While I didn't know about Zuck's elaborate preparations, I did know that rich techies were a significant demographic in the prepper community.  The logic behind it is that although the likelihood of a doomsday scenario is slim, if the sh*t does ever hit the fan, you'll be damn grateful that you made the investment.  Also, for rich techies the cost of prepping is quite small relative to their net worth.

However, if it were just a matter of a small investment relative to net worth, then rich people outside the tech sector would also be preppers, but that's not the case.  While there are probably exceptions, in general you don't see a lot of investment fund managers or Hollywood producers into prepping.

Maybe it's that a lot of tech geeks grow up playing, and still play, doomsday scenario video games, which foster a prepper mentality.  I couldn't come up with any other theory for why rich techies are into prepping whereas rich doctors, lawyers, bankers (for the most part) are not.

many of them were (and some still are) socially awkward, don't you forget about that element in their way to see the world. 

[Lotus-eater]

How Billionaires Are Future-Proofing Their Homes With Ultra-Luxe Private Bunkers

ROBBREPORT.COM

---

Inspired by survivalist narratives and armed with deep pockets, celebs and CEOs are building underground hideouts with spa suites, art vaults, and AI-threat...

 

They look like the lair of a Bond villain.

Dr. Evil (Goldmember): Ladies And Gentlemen, Welcome To My Submarine Lair. It's Long, Hard And Full Of Seamen! No? Nothing? Not Even A Titter? Tough Sub...